rochel

Hi there,

I am planning for my first trip ever to Israel in a couple of months. I live in the middle of the country so can fly from either New York or LA, and I don't have a big preference either way.

I am trying to consider whether the better flying experience would be on El Al or Lufthansa for this trip? In either case, I am planning on flying Business. I have flown Lufthansa many times, so they are a known for me. But I have never flown El Al. I am sort of interested in doing so for the experience of flying with them, but wanted to know what others' thoughts were here?

Thanks!

joshwex90

There's a couple of things to factor. Based on the dates you want to travel, which has more convenient dates/time? Which has a better price?

Assuming everything is equal, and it's purely a question of which airline offers a better soft/hard product...

I notice from your handle that you belong UA MP. Flying LH allow you to earn EQMs and RDMs for Mileage Plus, which EL AL doesn't.

If you'd rather have a single long flight as opposed to a couple of longish flights, then EL AL is better. If you don't want that really long flight, and would rather break it up, go for LH. Obviously, those are personal preferences.

Regarding the seat, the 2 LY C seats (the 772 and 744) are the same. But with LH, there are a bunch of C configs and seats. Flying LH means the first leg is on a 744. Not as good of a seat as the LY ones (IMO). But the A340 seats are decent for the second leg. None of them go fully flat, so a somewhat uncomfortable sleep. You need F on either of them for that. However, the IFE is much better on LH than on LY.

I prefer service on LY to LH.

If you're a Kosher eater, meal service will be much better on LY. If not, I've heard good things about LH, but no idea how it compares to LY (or anything for that matter).

Hope this helps!

kochleffel

Is there a reason to consider only those two airlines? For example, you might also look into United/Continental via EWR, United/Air Canada via YYZ, which are one-stop routes that could credit all mileage to UA.

entropy

I prefer the onboard service on LY to LH.

LH's business seat sucks. And, LH's times flying into/out of TLV also suck for connections from the west coast.

I'm not sure why its just LY or LH from the US, CO and AC both offer vastly superior seating in business to LY or LH and they have great flight times out of EWR/YYZ.

ELAL

As a first timer to Israel do it properly, which includes flying the national airline.

Houminer

I belive they are the exact same seats on LH's 744 or A340.

joshwex90

Which is why I didn't say one is better than the other.

OP, if you are (as I assumed, though I could be wrong) interested in earning UA miles, you can fly CO via EWR, AC via YYZ, or US via PHL (probably #1 actually).

rochel

You know, this really factors into my thinking quite a bit! This is my first time in Israel and I am very excited. So the thought of flying El Al seemed like the "whole package" to me.

joshwex90

I disagree. That's like saying, I'm flying to England, so I must fly BA. VS is another great airline. And if my choice is UA F or BA CW, I'm not taking BA just because it's the national carrier. (Yes I compared F to C, but that's because CW is clearly better than UA C.)

The better comparison, I guess, is I'd sooner fly BF on CO to Germany from EWR than fly LH.

brivido

I second (or third) flying CO. Their fully flat bed BusinessFirst seats are fabulous on the 777s.

clubman

While I agree LH's C hard product isn't great ( though I find it perfectly ok for a day flight) I fail to see how LY's seat is better.

clubman

Indeed they are.

clubman

But can fully understand why someone would think you were, reading your post.

clubman

I kind of agree in a way that there would be something nice about that.

joshwex90

Second best seat flying to TLV from North America. US Envoy is better.

I personally find it more comfortable.

Which is why I have no edited it

I agree that there's "something nice" about it. But not "nice enough" to warrant one airline over the other. Only if everything else were equal, which it's not.